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Bear saw-leaf is an inedible mushroom of the Auriscalp family, genus Lentinellus. Difficult to recognize, it is impossible to distinguish it from some similar species without a microscope. Another name is Lentinellus bearish.
What does a bearish saw-leaf look like?
Fruit bodies are shell-shaped caps without legs. They grow on wood, growing together in several pieces.
Description of the hat
Size in diameter - up to 10 cm, shape - from reniform to semicircular. Young mushrooms have convex caps, old ones - flat or concave. They are pale brown, sometimes more faded along the edge. When dry, the color becomes brown with a wine reddish-brown tint. Over the entire surface, whitish, gradually darkening pubescence, at the base it is more abundant. The edge of the cap is sharp, curls up when dry.
The pulp is hard-fleshy, its thickness is about 0.5 cm. The color varies from light cream or cream to gray-red. The smell is sour, unpleasant, weakly expressed, in some sources it is described as spicy.
The plates are frequent, thin, radially diverging from the place of attachment to the substrate. Fresh specimens are white, cream or pinkish, waxy, fleshy. The dried ones are pale brown, with jagged edges.
Spore powder is creamy white.
Leg description
The leg is completely missing.
Where and how it grows
Bear saw-leaf grows on deadwood of deciduous trees, less often on coniferous wood.
Fruiting from August to mid-October.
Distributed throughout Russia, in Europe, in North America.
Is the mushroom edible or not
Refers to inedible, but is not considered poisonous. It should not be eaten because of the pungent, bitter taste.
Doubles and their differences
Inexperienced mushroom pickers may confuse bear's saw-leaf with edible oyster mushrooms. The main differences are an unpleasant sour smell and jagged edges of the plates.
Particularly close to lentinellus bearswolf sawgelle is inedible, but not poisonous, with a bitter taste and a pronounced mushroom odor. In adult specimens, the surface of the fruiting body is whitish-brown, yellowish-reddish, dark fawn. The shape of the cap is kidney-shaped at the beginning, then gradually becomes ear-shaped, lingual or shell-shaped. Its edge is wrapped inward. A brown or almost black dense leg 1 cm high may be present. The plates are wide, frequent, descending with an uneven edge. At first they are whitish or light beige, then they acquire a reddish tint. Wolfsweed cannabis can be distinguished by its rudimentary short stalk, but sometimes it is absent or difficult to see. An experienced mushroom picker can notice the difference in the color of the cap and its edge. Another sign, which can only be detected under a microscope, is the larger spores in the wolf's saw-leaf and the absence of an amyloid reaction on the hyphae.
The beaver sawnose is another related species. Its fruiting bodies have a similarity of a leg, they are yellow-brown, tiled. The plates are radially located, frequent, light beige, chipped, with wavy or curved edges. This fungus grows mainly on fallen conifers in late summer and autumn. Inedible, with a pungent taste. It differs from bearish in larger fruiting bodies, on which there is practically no pubescence.
Conclusion
Bear saw-leaf is an inedible mushroom that grows on dead wood and is difficult to distinguish from its relatives. Such species as wolf and beaver are especially close to it.
